


Verde's Terrible Post-Engagement Months

by LadyHallen



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Could this be called Bookshop AU?, Curses, Don't repost, Libaray AU, M/M, Memory Loss, Slight horror, do not copy to another site, idk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24888892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyHallen/pseuds/LadyHallen
Summary: Verde has Memory Problems, Xanxus has a missing Fiance and Reborn has a headache.
Relationships: Reborn & Verde (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Verde/Xanxus (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 78
Collections: KHR Rare Pair Week 2020





	Verde's Terrible Post-Engagement Months

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [KHR_Rare_Pair_Week_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/KHR_Rare_Pair_Week_2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> June 24: Lightning Day - Bookshop AU/Curses
> 
> Happy Fourth day of KHR RARE PAIR WEEK 2020 for everyone participating!!!

Verde has guarded the Library since he could remember.

It isn’t that he couldn’t leave, but because he doesn’t want to. He has no other memory other than the library and it brings him no measure of comfort to take one step outside.

A lot of people in the Royal City has commented on this more than once, but all of them are rebuffed by a well-placed glare.

It would be difficult for him to leave, because Verde knows nothing. Save for the Library and the green amulet on his chest, Verde only had the clothes on his back and the food that appeared in the pantry every day like clockwork.

.

* * *

.

It isn’t that he doesn’t hear about the outside world in his duties. A lot of the patrons in the Library are terrible gossips and almost none of them are subtle at all.

A young man with white hair and the resting face of mischief is a particularly loud one. He is always accompanied by a bizarre group of people and they are very noisy that day.

“I hear they called off the search for the Duke,” a young lady says. She is the only women in the group and she walks like she floats on air.

“Poor fella,” a redheaded man says. “Vanishing right during his engagement party to that mercenary too.”

Verde shudders, the amulet tightening its grip on his neck. He shakes his head and resolves not to listen anymore.

.

* * *

.

A few days after that, though he has no proper grasp of time in-between shelving and cataloguing books, an eye-catching person appears.

Dark hair in spikes woven with feathers, a scar marring his skin and angry red eyes. So much anger.

Verde feels like he couldn’t breathe.

What a scary person, he thinks. Their very presence is a tangible weight in the air around him.

With some effort, he takes his eyes off the man and looks at his other eye-catching companions.

Silver hair that flash in the wind and one arm holding a sword.

Verde takes a deep breath when he feels light headed.

Nausea, he diagnoses himself. Must be the clams he ate for lunch.

He does his best to serve them as they bark out question upon question. Their interests are singular, mostly in curses and their breaking.

Verde doesn’t meet their eyes at all and only when they leave does he realize that he’d been rubbing at his neck, where the chain of the pendant has rubbed the skin raw.

Strange, he doesn’t remember pulling at the pendant at all.

.

* * *

.

The red eyed man comes back along with him that nausea. He’s alone and pre-occupied, fingers restless on the counter.

“This library is strange,” the man says, voice rough. “I don’t think I’ve seen it last year.”

The line of query makes Verde’s breath hitch. He cannot answer, for he does not know. And what he does not know drills a line of pain and agony in his brain.

“I’m sorry, my lord,” he manages once he’s capable of breathing again. “But I do not know if I can answer your question.”

Verde’s momentary lapse is noticed. The man, for the first time since entering the Library, finally _looks_ at him. The full force of his focus is like nothing Verde had ever felt in his memory, though the feeling of it is familiar.

“You look like you need a good night's rest,” the man says. “Maybe you should take a break, I’ll lock up the library for you.”

Verde’s muscles seize up in protest. “My lord, I cannot ask you for such a favor,”

“It is freely given,” the man says.

He pats Verde’s hand and the warmth lingers long after the man is gone.

.

* * *

.

Verde doesn’t manage the entire Library. Given its size, that would be impossible.

Sometimes, he would sleep with the counter full of check out books to be placed back, and wake up with it placed back in the shelves.

Some days, he wakes up and doesn’t find the urge to get up quickly. The Library would open without him, he is merely an anchor to keep it running.

Verde pauses at the stares, blinking. _Anchor?_ Wherever had that thought come from?

Muffled cursing makes him hurry and he sees the man again.

“Good morning, my lord,” he greets. “Curses again?”

“Stop it with that lord nonsense,” the man says. “The names Xanxus. And yeah, can you point me to the any book by _Sinclair and Verte_?”

The very moment the name leaves his lips, Verde is short of breath again, just hearing it. The pendant seems to get heavier and his legs lock to keep him upright.

“Fifth Floor, Seventh Bookshelf from the window with the mermaid,” he says. His voice is barely a whisper and his throat is on fire but he has to answer. _He has to._

“Are you alright? I’ll get you some water,” the man – Xanxus says. He goes around the counter and hands Verde a glass of water, forcing him to sit down.

He wants the man to hurry. Why, he does not know. But when he tries to draw breath to say this, the pendant gets heavier and he finds that he cannot speak.

With trembling hands, he picks up a pen to write.

But the man has left.

.

* * *

.

 _Time is running short_ , Verde thinks, but where the thought comes from, he does not know.

His dreams are plagued by the image of fire, and a laugh that robs him of thought.

Verde finds himself mechanically going through his days, the books seemingly heavier for his weakness and the necklace pulsing temperatures, sometimes hot enough to burn and sometimes cold enough to chill his very bones.

Xanxus does not come back, just his friends. The silver-haired man, in particular, comes back often, bringing with him his temper and his sharp-barked orders.

After nearly being ran over twice, Verde develops defensive methods and retreats behind the bookshelves every time he sees a flash of silver hair.

It might not have been advisable to ignore somebody who looks like he would gut Verde in a fit of temper, but swords are not allowed in the library, even prosthetic ones. So he might be safe. Possibly. As a precaution, he hides behind three more bookshelves.

Verde blinks at the thought. How did he know that the man had a prosthetic attached with a sword?

Curious.

.

* * *

.

The green amulet on his chest starts to fade and Verde feels immeasurable panic.

 _The timer is winding down,_ he thinks, which he would have dismissed as another nonsensical thought, except the amulet chain also starts to get shorter.

He tests this out and concludes that yes, he will die once the color fades.

He writes down his hypothesis and how he got to his conclusions. After some thought, he looks through all the books that Xanxus has been borrowing and finds one that they had not borrowed yet. He slips it in one of the pages.

His hand trembles and he sits on it. His impending death aside, he still has to shelve some more books.

.

* * *

.

The one to take out the book with his notes in it wasn’t any person Verde knows.

It wasn’t Xanxus, or his silver-haired friend. It was a tall man with dark hair and sharp eyes. His sideburns curled, indicating that he would have truly impressively curly hair if he grew it out. He is ungodly handsome but his face is set in a truly impressive scowl that belies that.

Scowl and temper aside, Verde has to get his notes back. He might have to put it in another book for Xanxus. It is important that it is Xanxus.

“Excuse me sir,” he calls out before the man could leave the library.

“Yes?” the man drawls out.

“I just remembered I left some notes there. I should take it out,” Verde says.

The man, in contrast to his annoyed expression, politely allows Verde to take out his notes. He must see something interesting, because his expression turns desperate.

“These are your notes?” he asks, snatching the paper out of Verde’s hands and touching it desperately. “What’s your name?”

Verde is about to answer, and the chain abruptly tightens. It’s the first time he’s noticed it. Usually, he doesn’t know what’s happening until he’s breathless and his throat is rubbed raw from the chain.

He scrabbles for the man’s hands desperately, holding it. He doesn’t know what for, but the man apparently does. He starts to shine yellow and the chain abruptly loosens, the color turning abruptly yellow instead of green.

“Thank you,” he rasps. “My name is Verde.”

The grip on his hand turns crushing.

“Verde,” the man whispers. “Of course. I am Reborn.”

The name is familiar, in a way that an old song is familiar.

Reborn moves to step closer but the wood from the library floor has grown around his feet and it is steadily climbing.

He shines a brighter yellow, pulling free easily. He walks quickly to the door, not quite running. He ignores the spikes that the doors are growing to deter him and cuts it with a swipe of his hand.

“Call for Xanxus,” he yells out of the door to a tall blonde-haired man barely seen through the crack. “I’ve found his cursed lover.”

What does he mean, Verde wants to know, except that the wood growing around the library is also now growing around him and Verde has no defense for it. He doesn’t know how to shine yellow.

The wood grows quickly, tying his feet to the floor, making him like a tree.

Fighting the forest that the library was growing, Reborn shouts. “Use your Dying Will, Verde, Duke of Skarn!”

Like lightning, Verde feels his memories crash through him. He gasps as two decades of memories flit through his mind. He has no time to parse them, because he remembers enough to be worried. If he does not remove the necklace or burn through the library, both of them will die here. Well, likely not Reborn.

Verde feels his Dying Will move sluggishly inside him. It’s slow and tired from feeding the amulet to keep him alive, but it’s there. It answers, and he feels the green lightning start from his heart and move to the rest of his body.

The amulet turns green again and starts to grow hot, the heat traveling up to the chain around his neck. He feels the blisters popping in his skin, but he doesn’t stop. If he does, he knows that the library will entomb him in wood. He scorches the wood dead, burning his clothes but that means he can break free from his partial prison.

Reborn hasn’t been idle either. The Champion Knight hadn’t won his title for nothing. He shines so bright that Verde cannot even look at him too long. He hasn’t seen anyone shine so bright. He shines so bright that the shadows are melting away, the books fading away and the wooden structure of the library the only thing left.

Before Reborn could turn his Will hotter, Xanxus bangs open the library door holding his pistols.

“Reborn!” he shouts. “What the fuck???!!!”

“The librarians name is Verde,” Reborn shouts back.

Xanxus’s eyes go wide and he looks at Verde sitting in a circle of burned wood and clumsily trying to bandage his own neck from the scraps of his shirt.

Verde smiles at his lover, relief and happiness momentarily overriding the pain of the burns.

“You motherfucking fucker!” Xanxus shouts, looking irritated. “Do you know how much work I had to do because of you?!!”

He punctuates this statement by shooting several pieces of wood stealthily creeping up on him. His Will, his Flames of Wrath, are more effective at burning wood than anyone else’s. The enchanted library finally starts to catch fire and burn merrily.

This doesn’t stop Xanxus from shooting anything randomly moving. He doesn’t let go of his pistols, or his raging Will.

Verde doesn’t mind. He knows what Xanxus is like when he’s happy. The Xanxus to be afraid of is the quiet one.

When he’s recovered enough, Verde burns a safe path to Xanxus, mindful of the burning, flying pages and fiery splinters falling around them. After a moment, Reborn joins him, guarding him from flaming, falling debris with his own pistol shooting yellow fire like shooting stars. (Verde knows he’s going to get such a ribbing from his friend later. The Duke of Skarn, being protected like a damsel. The horror.)

He stops a foot from Xanxus, Reborn a comforting heat behind him.

Verde has no idea what to say, which is usually the case between them. He looks into the red eyes of his lover and feels completely bare. He feels his breath burn as he inhales. The amulet tugs on his chest again.

Thankfully, Xanxus knows. For a man who used curses as a medium of communication, he usually surprised people with how attuned he is with his emotions.

“I can’t believe you were here the entire time, skimping out on your duties,” Xanxus complains. His hands reach for Verde’s face.

Verde reaches back. Abruptly the amulet tightens like a noose again.

Smoothly, without even breaking the rhythm of shooting he had been making, Reborn reaches for the amulet and snaps it off with a clever application of bastardized Sky Flames.

This momentarily distracts Verde. Since when had Reborn known how to do _that??_

“Your neck looks like terrible,” Xanxus says just as bluntly as ever.

Verde chokes on an indignant splutter. “E-excuse me??! How dare you? I have been suffering with my flames being slowly eaten! I suffered being compelled to do the _shelving_ of books. I had to eat all my least favorite dishes! I missed doing my paperwork and my research! The mattress was lumpy, there was nothing to distract me from the monotony and - “

Verde is cut off by a hug.

It’s a hug.

After a second’s shock, he is hugging back just as hard. He misses this.

He hasn’t noticed it before, but the enchanted Library had been so cold. He hardly talked to anybody and everything had been impartial – impersonal.

Xanxus is warm and his arms are strong and gentle at the same time. Verde feels himself go boneless, trusting his lover to hold him up. Both of them sway as the hug extends longer than polite.

Eventually, Reborn is fed up with both of them.

“The door is right there,” he says testily. "Hug later.”

Pre-cursed Verde would have let go of his lover and jumped back like a startled cat. Post-cursed Verde just hugs tighter. He had almost been eaten by an enchanted library, Reborn can wait for a couple more minutes. Xanxus hugs back just as tight.

“I am getting tired,” Reborn announces a few moments later, which is alarming enough that both of them finally end the hug to run out of the library, with Reborn half a step behind them.

The Plaza is right outside, which means the enchanted library is almost right beside his palace. This pisses him off so much. Damn that witch.

“BOSS!!” Xanxus’s subordinates yell, swarming the both of them. Bel, the brat, jumps on Verde’s back and he winds up in the middle of a group hug – the sneaky fuckers. Verde laughs and basks, shelving the thought of revenge later.

.

* * *

.

Later, when Verde is finished writing his letter explaining to his mother, his sisters and the King what had happened in the past four months, Xanxus coaxes him to bed easily. What would have taken minutes of cajoling take only seconds.

Verde has _missed_ his lover’s touch.

“May I kiss you?” Xanxus asks like he always did.

Verde turns red and nods, speechless under the weight of Xanxus’s crimson eyes.

It’s gentle, soft and tentative. It’s sweet and tastes like the wine and sweetmeats that they had for supper. It’s enough, yet not at the same time. Verde trembles like a leaf, holding on to those broad shoulders as Xanxus leads a slow yet thorough campaign to reintroduce his tongue to Verde’s mouth.

He feels tears leak out of his eyes at his lover's gentleness.

Finally, Xanxus ends it and admires how Verde lies pliant under him, flushed and clinging to Xanxus’s arms.

“The witch that cursed you,” Xanxus says conversationally. “I set the Varia on her. And Reborn.”

The haze of pleasure leaves Verde in a blink. “Reborn _agreed?_ ”

Usually, the only ones who can order Reborn around is Prince Tsunayoshi, which is why it had been fortunate that he had won the championship to be Tsuna’s Knight.

“Reborn volunteered,” Xanxus says. “Something about needing to shoot something for making him witness the both of us being _sweet_.”

Verde laughs until he cries.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative titles: I Loved You even as I Forgot You /Verde is a Damsel in Distress /The Greatest Moment here is Reborn Doing ALL THE FUCKING WORK / Life Is All The Better for Having Known You


End file.
